The invention relates to a bandage for parts of the body, which bandage can be drawn tight by means of at least one tightening strap whose one end is secured on the bandage and whose other end, a tensioning end, can be fixed to the bandage.
A bandage of this type is disclosed in German Laid-Open Patent Application 4,337,354. The known bandage consists of an abdominal belt which is closed via a fixing plate which serves to support the patient""s back region. The connection between the fixing plate and the abdominal belt is effected by tightening straps which are each secured on the ends of the abdominal belt and are passed through openings in the fixing plate. By pulling on the free ends of the tightening straps, the bandage can then be adjusted to the girth of the body in question. The free ends of the tightening straps are then secured on the abdominal belt by means of closure elements.
A considerable tensioning force has to be exerted when applying bandages of this type, especially if the bandage is intended to exert a particularly strong support function. It is known that another person is often needed to help apply such bandages, since the patient concerned, because of his state of health, is not in a position to exert a sufficient tensioning force on the tightening straps.
The object of the invention is therefore to make it substantially easier to apply the bandage mentioned in the introduction, without the patient in question having to exert any particular force. According to the invention, this is achieved by means of a bandage design in which the tightening strap is guided back and forth through deflection rings which are secured on the bandage at a distance from one another, with inclusion of a contraction area, in such a way that a tensile force exerted on the tensioning end of the tightening strap acts in the manner of a pulley on the contraction area and thus shortens the bandage.
As a result of this arrangement of the deflector rings, in combination with the contraction area enclosed by them in the bandage, the tightening straps which draw the bandage tight are guided back and forth in the manner of a pulley system and can thus exert a high tensile force on the bandage, without the patient in question having to exert any particular effort to do this. With the bandage design according to the invention, the pulley system principle is thus elegantly incorporated into the bandage, as a result of which this bandage can even be applied by weakened persons without the assistance of other parties. This also affords the particular advantage that the patient is able to easily adapt the radial pressure exerted by the bandage by means of adjusting the tensile force, since the pulley system effect translates the tensile force exerted on the tightening straps to the tension exerted on the bandage.
The contraction area of the bandage is preferably made of an elastic material, whereas the other part of the bandage is made of a substantially less elastic material, in particular a nonelastic material. The advantage of this is that when the straps are pulled tight, the contraction area can draw together because of its elasticity, without folds being able to form in the contraction area.
In principle, it is sufficient for the bandage to be provided with just one contraction area and with the associated tightening straps. However, it is preferable for the bandage to be designed such that the contraction area with associated tightening strap or tightening straps is present twice in a symmetrical arrangement. In this case, the patient can pull with one hand on the tightening strap or tightening straps associated with one contraction area and thus correspondingly draw the contraction area together, which, in the case of two contraction areas of symmetrical arrangement, then results in a correspondingly great contraction, which acts laterally on both hips when the bandage is applied symmetrically on the body.